Early Graduation?

A month later, at dusk, in a training clearing within the eastern forest of the Senju Clan compound.

Kirito and Nawaki were engaged in their usual sparring practice.

At that moment, Kirito was surrounded and attacked by a large number of Nawaki's shadow clones.

Using his vast chakra reserves to perform the Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu and gang up on his opponent had become Nawaki's go-to tactic ever since he learned it.

"Prepare yourself, Kirito! I'll beat you flat this time!"

More than a dozen Nawakis shouted in unison before charging at him from every direction.

Seeing this, Kirito's eyes swept constantly across the battlefield. As he evaded while clearly reading his opponents' movements, his hands and feet struck in rapid succession, accurately hitting each Nawaki and sending them all flying.

Although shadow clones had physical bodies and were extremely difficult to distinguish from the original, they were far weaker than the original and had very low durability.

Nawaki's physical condition was decent, but his Strength and Speed attributes were still inferior to Kirito's.

Thus, the many Nawaki shadow clones turned into puffs of white smoke and vanished as they were sent flying.

Mixed among the many shadow clones, Nawaki paid no heed to this. He secretly formed hand seals, preparing to launch a ninjutsu attack at Kirito.

Using shadow clones as cover to perform ninjutsu was another of Nawaki's usual tactics.

Not only was his original body forming hand seals, but some of the shadow clones were doing the same, intending to confuse Kirito and prevent him from identifying the original.

For the moment, Kirito could not find Nawaki's original body, so he could only eliminate as many of Nawaki's shadow clones as possible.

He, too, began forming hand seals at high speed, and he was far faster than Nawaki.

But Nawaki's shadow clones were not about to let him have his way. Some continued rushing forward for close combat, while others chose to throw shuriken.

Kirito had no choice but to stop, drawing a kunai to block the incoming shuriken and kick away the Nawaki shadow clones charging at him.

At that moment, Nawaki and several shadow clones successfully completed their hand seals.

Water Release: Sky Weeping!

A mass of water needles shot from the mouths of Nawaki and his shadow clones, instantly turning Kirito into a pincushion.

With a "bang,"

A log was left behind on the spot.

"Damn it, that guy's Substitution Technique is still so fast. Where did he hide?"

Nawaki and his shadow clones immediately looked around with unwilling expressions, searching for Kirito's whereabouts.

"Ah, he's over there!"

Very soon, one shadow clone spotted Kirito hiding behind a nearby large tree.

Nawaki and the other shadow clones immediately looked over, only to see not just Kirito, but also a large number of crackling spheres of electricity.

Lightning Release: Lightning Ball!

After nearly two months of training, Kirito had finally cultivated the Lightning Release Chakra Nature and learned the only Lightning Style Ninjutsu he possessed, Lightning Release: Lightning Ball.

"Oh no, everyone, run!"

Knowing he had no time to form hand seals, Nawaki shouted.

Among the five elemental ninjutsu, Lightning Style Ninjutsu had the fastest attack speed. By the time Nawaki cried out, several shadow clones had already been struck by the electric spheres, turning into white smoke and disappearing.

Moments later, every Nawaki shadow clone on the field had been eliminated, but Nawaki himself was nowhere to be seen.

Kirito jumped down from the tree and warily watched his surroundings, guarding against Nawaki's sneak attack.

But in the next instant, two hands suddenly reached out from underground and grabbed Kirito's feet. Then Kirito was pulled entirely into the earth, with only his head exposed.

Earth Release: Headhunter Jutsu!

"Hehe, this is a new ninjutsu I learned. What do you think?"

Nawaki leaped out of the ground, pointed a kunai at Kirito, and said with a grin.

"Not bad. You actually mastered another Chakra Nature transformation in secret."

Kirito praised him.

Then he gave Nawaki a mysterious smile. "But aren't you celebrating a little too early?"

"What do you mean?"

Nawaki immediately became alert, and then the Kirito before him turned into a puff of white smoke and disappeared.

Clearly, the Kirito from before had merely been a shadow clone.

"This is bad."

The moment Nawaki saw this, he realized something was terribly wrong and hurried to leave the spot, only to find that he could not move at all.

A Sealing Formula had appeared on the ground beneath him.

Sealing Technique: Single Lamp Array.

"I win, Nawaki."

As Nawaki was bound by the Single Lamp Array, Kirito immediately revealed himself and pressed a kunai against Nawaki's throat.

"Damn it, when did you set up a Sealing Jutsu?"

Nawaki asked with an unwilling look on his face.

"Right when you used the Earth Release: Headhunter Jutsu. This Sealing Jutsu is very simple—I finished setting it up in one second. Honestly, if you usually paid attention in Teacher Mito's Sealing Jutsu classes, you definitely would have noticed the hastily placed Sealing Jutsu right away."

Kirito said with a smile, then released the seal.

"Shut up. Who besides you could learn something that troublesome so quickly? I'm not learning from you."

Nawaki saw through Kirito's intention to persuade him to learn Sealing Jutsu and decisively refused.

It wasn't that Nawaki didn't work hard; Sealing Jutsu was simply too difficult to learn. He truly couldn't master it. Ninjutsu, on the other hand, came quickly to him with the Shadow Clone Jutsu.

After their sparring session ended, Kirito began reviewing the battle with Nawaki, carefully identifying the mistakes they had made and discussing how to make up for them.

Mito had suggested this battle review and required the two of them to take it seriously.

It was also homework. They had to write up a summary of their discussion and hand it in every day.

Because of this, both of their combat abilities improved quickly.

"Same as always—you made far too many shadow clones just because you have a lot of Chakra. That's a serious waste of Chakra. Also, don't get careless and underestimate your opponent just because you learned a new jutsu. Didn't I tell you before? Your real body must stay hidden at all times. Unless you're running low on Chakra, keep using shadow clones to attack your opponent. If that had been a battlefield just now, you'd already be dead."

Kirito bluntly pointed out Nawaki's mistakes during the fight.

"But you're here, aren't you? Hehehe~"

Nawaki said with a grin.

"Idiot, how could I possibly stay by your side forever? You must remain vigilant at all times in battle. You have far more Chakra than others—that's your advantage. The Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu was practically tailor-made for someone with as much Chakra as you. You need to make good use of this ninjutsu."

Seeing how carefree Nawaki was, Kirito decisively knocked him on the head to make him remember it properly.

In the original story, Nawaki had died because he was too reckless and impulsive, and because he had underestimated his enemy and let his guard down, falling into an enemy explosive tag trap.

If Nawaki had been even a little more vigilant, he would not have died.

After all, Nawaki's teacher at the time had been Orochimaru. With Orochimaru's abilities, there was no way he would fail to notice Nawaki's talent. There was a high chance that he would teach Nawaki a suitable ninjutsu like the Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu.

"I know, I know. You're even more nagging than Grandma now. Don't worry, I absolutely won't die before I become Hokage."

Nawaki cried out in pain while clutching his head, then confidently gave Kirito a thumbs-up as he tried to look cool.

Then, after hesitating for a moment, he said softly, "Um, Kirito, with our current strength, we should be good enough to graduate from the Ninja Academy, right? How about we graduate early, then go eliminate the enemy together?"

The next moment, a fist struck his head hard.

"Why'd you hit me, Kirito? If you don't want to go, then don't go. Coward—"

Nawaki said angrily after being hit for no reason, but when he saw the extremely serious expression and icy gaze on Kirito's face, he did not dare to finish his sentence.

It was the first time he had seen Kirito wear such a frightening expression.

"Nawaki, do you know what your identity is?"

Kirito said seriously.

"Of course I do. I'm the grandson of the First Hokage, so I absolutely cannot tarnish Grandpa's reputation."

When asked that, Nawaki's expression also became serious as he shouted.

"Looks like you understand your identity very well. Then have you considered what consequences there would be if you chose to graduate now and go to the battlefield?"

Kirito asked again.

Nawaki was only six years old. His mind was filled only with becoming Hokage as soon as possible—how could he have thought about such a question?

He racked his brains but could not figure out what consequences his early graduation would bring.

"Looks like you really are an idiot. Let me tell you, then. You would become an example. To boost morale, Lord Hokage and the others would definitely heavily publicize the fact that you graduated early and voluntarily went to the battlefield. By then, you would become Konoha's hero."

Seeing that Nawaki could not figure it out, Kirito explained it to him.

When Nawaki heard that he would become the village's hero, his eyes immediately lit up.

Becoming the village's hero was something he dreamed of.

But Kirito's next words were like a basin of cold water poured over him, making his whole body turn cold.

"But you would definitely die. In order to severely damage our morale, the enemy would surely do everything they could to kill you, the grandson of the First Hokage. They would send Jonin, perhaps even several Jonin, to assassinate you. Think carefully—at your current strength, do you have any chance of escaping alive from a Jonin?"

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